Forevergreen

Forevergreen tells the story of an orphaned bear cub, rescued from almost certain death by a benign spirit of the forest – which in this case comes in the shape of an old and wise evergreen tree.  The tree teaches the young cub how to survive and a parent-child bond is created between the two.  That is, until the cub reaches those difficult teenage years and is accidentally introduced to the allure of fast food left behind by humans.  A chain of events is set in motion in which desperate decisions must be made…

This charming animated short, written and directed by Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears was created by a team of over 200 people who all donated their free time to create what is a beautiful piece of visual storytelling.  As you can imagine, as it was an after hours project, it took some time to make – over five years in fact.  On a simple level it works as an extended metaphor – don’t give your kids junk food.  Flippancy aside, Forevergreen tells a simple yet profound tale of sacrifice and parenthood and how this can spread out, like the leaves of a tree, over generations.

Watch Forevergreen below.